A tornado with winds up to 200 mph Wednesday left debris across the Rancho Brazos neighborhood near Granbury. Six people were killed and dozens were injured in storms that night.

GRANBURY — People are calling them the “Brazos Boys,” and they’re playing through the pain.

The tornado that killed six people and devastated the Rancho Brazos subdivision won’t deter a soccer team made of third- through sixth-graders, many from the neighborhood. When 10-year-old Raul Villegas steps out onto the soccer field Saturday, he won’t be thinking of his tornado-damaged home.

“I just want to play,” he said. “We don’t care. We’re not going to lose our game because of that.”

He’s one of the 13 boys on the American Eagles. The sport, this last game, is perhaps their therapy, said coach Winston Dixon.

“They’ve won all six of the games they’ve played this season,” Dixon said. “But I think because of the tragedy, this one’s extra special for them.”

As their story has spread, people around town have taken to calling Dixon’s team “The Brazos Boys.”

Churches around town have told their congregations about the team, which is a part of First Baptist Church of Granbury’s Upward sports program. They encouraged the community to show up and cheer on the kids in their game against Inferno, another Upward team of boys and girls the same age.

After the storm hit, Raul said he worried the team’s last game would be canceled. He called his coach and said: “We still playing, coach? I don’t have my jersey.”

Community members and the church have scrounged up cleats for the American Eagles. About half the team lives in Rancho Brazos and most of them won’t get back to their damaged homes before the noon kickoff. There are extra jerseys for the kids to wear and a hot dog picnic and the award ceremony signaling the end of the season.

Players without a team

Dixon’s own church, Acton United Methodist, has sponsored the Rancho Brazos community, offering tutoring for children in the area just outside of Granbury’s town limits. Dixon, one of the tutors, hoped he could organize “something for the kids to do,” he said. He tried softball.

“About four kids wanted to play,” he said. So this spring, he figured he’d try for something a little more popular. He noticed that the kids in the mostly Catholic and Hispanic area lived for soccer.

“But most of them had never been on a team,” he said, “even though they had played together for a while.”

Raul, the 10-year-old, said he and his friends had long hoped for a team to play with — and opponents to play real games against. That’s where Dixon came in. He pitched his newly formed team to First Baptist’s Upward program.

It’s the only league around that would allow the group to continue playing together, despite a wide age difference among the players, a priority for Dixon.

“And they’re a seasoned bunch,” said the program’s director, Deborah Farnsworth. Her husband coaches the American Eagles’ opponent, Inferno. The American Eagles “are really good, I know. I’m hoping it’ll be a good game.”

Despite the difference of cultures, Dixon, who can hardly speak Spanish, has made it work, he said.

“The kids are my interpreters, and I send out text messages for practices and games,” he said. “They just love soccer so much, I tell them when and where and they’ll drag their parents there.”

Home has to wait

Parents, proud cousins and aunts show up to every game, Raul said of his many fans.

“He thinks he’s a pro,” his father, also Raul Villegas, said in Spanish, laughing. “Oh, he just loves it. You see him excited for every game.”

The 10-year-old said he and his cousins prepare outside of the team’s practices so that he can continue improving.

“We take it seriously,” the boy said. “You have to be strong and have a good attitude. That’s a good soccer player.”

The Villegas family hasn’t been allowed back into its neighborhood, so Raul’s father doesn’t know the extent of the damage.

“I’m worried about what I’ll find when I get there,” said Villegas, who works in construction.

When he fled the storm with his family Wednesday, he couldn’t see the damage well because the power was out. The family is staying with Villegas’ brother. Villegas hopes that he’ll be able to offer his construction expertise to help his neighbors clean up the devastation once they get back into the subdivision.

On Saturday, Villegas and his son will worry only about soccer.

“Right now, we can’t do anything about our house,” Villegas said. “We’re going to go watch them play and enjoy the nice day. We’ll be there no matter what.”